Saturday, December 23, 2017

We must ensure that the Resistance keeps up the pressure. Without it Democrats will cave.

by digby

I watched Trump sign his big tax bill today and I had my usual dual reaction of revulsion and fury whenever I see him. It's a physical response. I've never felt this way about any politician before. In fact, I've never felt this way about any person before. He is uniquely dreadful. Pollster Peter Hart did focus groups all over the country and found that this is not an unusual reaction:

Donald Trump lost the support and respect of a majority of Americans in his first year as president.... In 2017, Americans hoped the Trump era would be about changing Washington and the old established order. But they did not sign on to the division and discord. Instead, 2017 has found Americans feeling that they are living constantly on edge ... Instead of being a unifying force or a stable leader, he has been an unnerving presence.

I think he was being generous. He is more than unnerving. He is downright terrifying. And I have to say that the spectacle of all those Republicans lining up this week to unctuously sing his praises and ostentatiously kiss his ring in front of the whole country may have been the most unnerving moment of this terrifying year.

It's fine to take a victory lap when you get a legislative victory. All politicians do that. But this was something else again. Seeing all those officials lined up behind him made it clear that Republicans have cynically decided to fete him like the dictator of a banana republic. We are a hares-breath away from it being true.

Today he bragged, he bloviated, he whined and he insisted that next year Democrats are going to be with him on his big tax-money-for-rich-cronies initiative, an "infrastructure" bill. We'll have to see what happens, but if the Democrats want to split their burgeoning coalition they'll start cooperating with that monster. It's not as if whatever infrastructure bill they come up with will be anything but a boondoggle for rich people.

The latest (hopefully temporary) cave on DACA is not reassuring. If the Democrats lose their spines going into this election and allow Trump to be seen as a "winner" by bringing them around to his side, if they even think of kissing his ring like those Republicans have done, in the midst of a strong economy, the GOP will win. And we will be done. It is vital that they stay strong and resist. Any capitulation to Trump will demoralize the Democratic base and give the other side a good reason to come out and vote for their team next year. Keep in mind that Democrats must have an unusually high turnout in a mid-term which is always very difficult for them and the Republicans must stay home in a midterm which is uncommon.

The Resistance is called what it's called because of a massive grassroots demand that Trump not be normalized or validated. We must push these Democrats to hold the line.

I will be here pushing as hard as I can for them to block, resist, stop, protest and resist anything and everything that Donald Trump and his unctuous sycophants try to do in the next year. There can be no capitulation to this unfit cretin or we are well and truly sunk.

If we stick together and resist the normalization of this outrageous insult to reason and reality, we might just come out of this in one piece.

I am so grateful for all of my readers --- it's the sustenance that gets me through these dark times.

If you feel like putting a little something in the Hullabaloo Christmas stocking this year, it would be much appreciated.